The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1887-09-24
FACTS ABOUT polsoNs.
How D3atly Doses ARE Dlstributes
Through the Hum "a systsm.

ALeEt gF@- 80 - s-.A 40 ~ I.00l-
poisoning tAsss day.. al Father vague
and uncertain op.a.oi asl az % what the
disease Is, SAYS 'hs Pllt5JIrgd DiY a,ci.
II Is not well unaerstoyI w1A happens 10
the blood wael IL i3 50 'c 20 the on
trance OF poisonous ln stsr.als, or how
death results ia 81 n an Great. PO.sOns
have a variety OF WAYS D. wh ch they kill.
Some must be sw sllOwsi % an ect tho
system; others mast 60 more directly
into the blood. Certain pOisons, called
irrltant ones, are deictcriOus d. NJ schan-
ical means For Instance. sulohurIc acid
or vitriol kills by the deitruc.lJl II occa.
sions 10 the stomach and other parts with
which II comes in contact, ami is a good
example Of an irrtaat po'sOn. OtAers 4.
when swallowed are absorbed Just as
food is, and proluce bti results in that
way. On the other hand, those pDisons
which kill by being directly introduced
into the blood are, as a rule, quicker and
more virulont in their action,
Savages who poison their war imple.
ments with serpcnts' vernon are in ths
habit OF tasting the mixture 10 determine
whether Cr not IL has the right degree OF
strength. They know very well that in
the mouth il has no bad effect, bat when
the skin is pricaed with the weapon the
blood soon courses through the veins lika
liquid fire,
The blood is a rather complex organ II
"a made up OF small red corpuscles, or
round plates, which float in the LIQUID
part aud which are 80 small that il re-
quiro5 a pretty good microscope TO sea
them well. The liquid hoids in solution
the nutritive substances which arc capa.
BILE OF being dissolved and the corpus cles
carry oxygen and still other nourishine
elements. As tha blood goes through the
I LUNGS a I no air intu
which u has brought from various parts
Of the body, and takes from tho air oxy-
gen which is carried all through the body
The food, after II is properly dieested, ia
taken up by system Of ~ Dos aud poured
into tina blood, which carries this also and
leaves I v;here IT is most needed. After
. neal, II the blood be examined with tha
microscope. little globuies OF fat and 9TH
er nutritious material may be- seen in IT,
The blood, just as any other part of tha
body, VIII dooay II separated from tho
body, 0nd II any putrid matter gets into
~ then y is liable 10 undergo dccomposi-
ton, which destroyl its property Of carry.
ing the nutritlve products prepared by di-
gestion TO the tissues. The term blood.
poison. II will be seen, is quite "a compre.
aensive term. In all diseases which ara
"blood Diseases so.oalled or zymotic
diseases, the blood Is poisoned, that Is, IL
contains morbid clements which, being
distributed by the blood 10 all parts OF tho
body, cause tho disease to DO maintained.
/ Rheumatism Is due 20 the presence in
Tie blood Of an excess OF oxa hte of lime
Jaundice is occasioned by bile in the blood,
staining the tissues yellow, Uremiais uric
acid in the blood, and so on throughout the
list. Now, in all these diseases the blooi
may be said to be poisoned. Typhoid
fever, smallpox, cholera, typhus fever,
glanders in lower animals, hydrophobia,
/ dlphtheria, all have the blood poisoned by
the peculiar virus Of tho disorder. AL
though these are all OF them true blood
poisoning the term, as generally under.
stood, is applied TO putrid matter enter
ing the circulation from wound. This
occurs from all kinds al wounds, both
from accidental injury aud wounds made
by the Surgeon IN operation,
Surgeons recognize two forms, called by
them pywmla ANA septicemia. Both forms
/ Of tho disease arc caused BY the entrance
into the blood Of poisonous material, re.
sulting from putrcfaction in wound.
! There has been much discussion and
numerous experiments on animals in an
/ endeayor 10 md how the poisonous prod.
/ uot gained access TO the circulation, and Il
Is now generally believed that IL enters
! the divided ends of tho vessels at the
wound; that IN ny amia the vessels ulcer.
/ gta At the point where tho would is, and
that small pieces of the liberated material
break off aud are carried along with the
stream of blood until they reach som
point, as the lungs or liver, where the
vessels are so small that these pieces, or
emboll, as they are called, can not pass
through. They lodge here and are the
starting point for internal abcesses. In
death from pyRmia examination OF the
| body shows numerous abccsses through
out the entire body, the heart and even
tho brain not escaping. Pyemia com.
monty results from a suppurating wound,
and rarely manifests itself until the end
Of the second week afler tho injury was
received, while sept cmmia sets in with
in forty-elght hours of the receipt Of the
injury.
BY far the largest number OF cases OF
blood poisoning which come to the notice
of the public are those IN which the VIC
tim is a physician who has slightly
wounded himself in dssecting or holding
post-mortem examination II would
seem that the greatest danger would be in
working with a body in which decomposi-
tion was advanced considerably; but the
fact is that these wounds are most dan
gerous if made while examining a body
soon after death, aud the danger Of poison
ing lessons "a decomposition advances.
Thus it is that physicians are frequently
tho subject of this disease. They exam
inc bodies soon after death either to gain
knowledge of the cause of death in OBJ
scure cases, in corsners' cases, or by re-
quest of friends, and the loss Of their lives
frequently is the reward
The wound may be made by the point OF
knife or tip Of needle, and, at times,
heals up without any trouble but the first
unusual activity or exercise renews the
inflammation, with absorption Of poison
Gus material following. The blood of
victim TO blood poisoning is found 20 liter,
ally swarm with Lha. aLllT. SEQ pical organ,
izations mentioned above, and the bodies
of those who die OF IL are found TO decom-
pose much sooner than usual,
II seems that these organizations, which
are known under the general name OF
Llctsr.a, are very active and may be taken
into the system in decomposed food or by
inhalation of impure air. The writer re-
members a lecturer who demonstrated
this action. He showed under the micro
scope q specimen of his blood, then a drop
az Waterfront of glass in which had laid for
several days piece Of putrid meat Tho
water was alive with bacteria He then
drank tho water and two days afterward
appeared, and, drawing drop of blood
from his finger, showed IL full OF the or.
ganisms before present in the water Ha
recovered aftor a few days Of Illness IL